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Peter Walsh, one of the world’s leading professional organisers, author and regular guest on The Oprah Winfrey Show will visit Australia to launch Dymo N.O.W. and offer his expert organisational tips.
“Having seen the impact that organisation can have on people’s lives, I’m delighted to support Dymo and be involved in Dymo N.O.W.,” said Peter.
“When people are organised, they feel lighter, happier and less anxious. Having an entire week dedicated to organisation will really impact the lives of people across Australia and New Zealand.”
According to a report released this year by the Australian Institute, four in ten Australians feel anxiety, guilt and depression due to the amount of clutter in their lives, indicating that being organised at home and at work is important to your physical and emotional wellbeing.
The Australian Institute’s report, Stuff Happens says that more than 88% of people have at least one cluttered room in their house and one in eight people report moving house to accommodate all their possessions.
These simple tips from Dymo National Organising Week™ Ambassador Peter Walsh will help transform your chaos into an organised haven:
1. Label, label, label. Chances are within a day of sealing a container for safe keeping you’ve forgotten what you stored – especially if you’re consigning that box to the garage or storage cupboard! Clearly Dymo label all containers so that items can be quickly and easily located.
2. Avoid cord confusion. Ever scrambled behind the TV and discovered a mess of tangled cords? The simple solution is to label the end of each cord for each piece of electronic equipment – especially when they all connect to the one powerboard. You can then easily and quickly identify which cord goes to what piece of gear and save yourself hours of tangled-cord hell! Hint: this tip is also great for the office – just look under your desk!
3. Invest in a good filing system. Up to 80% of what’s stored in a filing system never sees the light of day. Establish an efficient system to quickly and easily access important information. Use a Dymo labelmaker to label all files clearly and remember to cull files once a year of outdated and unwanted paperwork.
4. Divide your office into zones. Each function (filing, emailing, researching, assembling projects, reading, etc.) of your day-to-day activity should have a zone where you keep only that type of work. Clearly designate and label those zones. The object is to keep a clear desk space, with only what you’re working on in front of you.
5. Avoid paper clutter. Paper pile-ups inevitably lead to disorganisation. You’ll get a call and write a note and put it on top of an existing paper pile. You end up with all these ‘urgent’ things that can make you feel overwhelmed and out-of-control. Using your Dymo Labelmaker for the vertical files on your desk is a simple solution. Why work against yourself?
6. Match your email folders with your computer folders with your paper files. Make sure the mail folder tree in Microsoft® Outlook (or whatever email program you use) actually mirrors the tree of your Microsoft Word documents and create labelled paper files to match. For example, you might have folders in your Inbox labelled by client, and then by project—your corresponding documents should go the same way, as should the labelled files in your filing cabinet.
7. Keep it together. Invest in 3 binders with clear plastic sleeves. Dymo Label one ‘Warranties and Manuals’, one ‘Take Away Menus’ and one ‘Local Attractions’. You now know where to find the instructions to household appliances, what to order when you can’t be bothered cooking and where to send those out of town guests who are looking for something to do! Keep the binders in a central location in your home for quick and easy reference.
8. Let labels do the work. Use shelving in the family room to establish areas for magazines, video games, DVD’s and any other items that you’re constantly picking up and putting away. Clearly label an area for each of the magazines you subscribe to (just like the library!), and also label bins for games, remotes, most-recently-purchased or most-popular DVD’s and so on. Get your family, especially the kids, to help with this as a way of getting them to commit to putting things where they belong.
9. Keep a kitchen clear. Ensure your pantry staples are easily identifiable to avoid cooking mishaps. Use labelled jars for all your baking ingredients, like salt, sugar, self-raising and plain flour. This will ensure you don’t put salt in your cake or sugar in your casserole!
10. Labels for learning. With pre-school aged children, clearly label toy storage containers with an accompanying sample of the toy also labelled, which represents the contents of the container! For example, for a box of Lego – create a label with the word ‘Lego’ and stick this to a piece of Lego and place on the box of Lego. This can be applied to all toy storage containers and toys whether it is wooden blocks, dolls or cars! This helps teach toddlers where specific toys belong and the meaning of some basic words.
Organising workshops will be held at Officeworks stores nationally during Dymo National Organising Week, where people can receive free advice on how to get organized from members of the Australasian Association of Professional Organisers.
Visit your local Officeworks on Thursday 11th September between 4pm and 8pm for advice on organising your home, office or worksite. For more information visit www.dymo.com.au